1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to image reproduction, and more particularly, to moving image reproduction that restores a compressed moving image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, more image data is required to represent a moving image than is needed to represent a static image, an audio signal, or textual data. Accordingly, moving images are generally compressed and encoded prior to being transmitted or stored.
Moving image reproduction, as generally used herein, refers to reproducing the transmitted or stored moving images. That is, moving image reproduction generally refers to restoring compressed moving images.
Moving image reproduction is typically performed in a series of processes. For example, when the moving image reproduction is performed according to the H.264 standard of ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector) or MPEG4-AVC (Moving Picture Experts Group, Version 4-Advanced Video Coding) of ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission) JTC1 (Joint Technical Committee 1), the series of processes may include entropy decoding, inverse quantization, inverse discrete cosine transformation, motion compensation, etc.
An apparatus that performs such a series of processes to recover an image using software, such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or the like, has been in use for many years. However, such a general use apparatus is typically very large and consumes a significant amount of power, and is thus not commercially viable as a single purpose image restoration device.
Accordingly, an apparatus that performs the series of processes to recover an image using hardware has been introduced. However, in these types of devices, images cannot be restored in real-time due to the frequent access to a certain memory required. Such a problem is serious when the image to be restored is intended to be of high quality.